I decided to start by re-capping the past 3 years, lol. When I completed the NYC marathon, I had the bug. I wanted to race every weekend for the rest of my existence; however, I couldn’t get motivated for the life of me. It was brutal. I would get up to run and find an excuse. The great news was that I was signed up for the next season with Team in Training to do the NJ half. Wow, this all seems like a lifetime ago. Anyway, I went to Disney to support and saw my teammates with whom I had been training when it was recommended I focus on NYC and not NYC AND Disney. It motivated me more!!
I trained with TNT, sometimes in Brooklyn, but mostly in Manhattan. The walkers became a close bunch quickly. As a training run for Disney, I did the MORE magazine half again. I decided that was my favorite race and I felt SO accomplished. I took 25 ish minutes off my race from the year before, and I felt like I had more in my tank when I finished. Between the NYC marathon and More, I did about 5 other races ranging from 3.1 miles to 9.3 miles. For each and every one I was under a 16 minute mile! This was MAJOR to me since for Disney you have to stay in the 16 minute range, and I had never stopped thinking about Disney!
So, I was excited about NJ. The fundraising came easily. I was raising money in honor of my boss and dear friend, Barbara Colwell. I was a top fundraiser, raising about $6500. I couldn’t wait. I was feeling PART of the team. So much a part of the team that due to a mis-booking and too few rooms at the hotel, I ended up sharing my room with 2 coaches!
I was great - feeling like I could blow away my MORE pace of 16:03 since it was a month later, and NJ is a flat course. I was doing great until I had to use the port-a-potty. I approached one with no line and this woman ran in front of me and strolled in. Then, there was the shoe lace that came untied right before seeing Coach Louis. That was around mile 11 or 12. Anyway, I include these details because I missed my PR (Personal Record – a runner’s term used to define your best time in that distance race) by less than 20 seconds! Anyway, as luck would have it, our hotel was right at the finish line. I grabbed a shower and went back out to watch the other racers finish the half and the full. Watching my pal Carmella finish her race, the last marathoner in, with all the TNT support and the smile on her face told me that I HAD to do more with TNT. I was hooked.
Later that year I did another handful of races, a sprint tri and started to train for the Disney Half! The Sprint Tri was fascinating. I didn’t love it. I LOVE that I did it, but it wasn’t my thing. I found it physically MUCH easier than a marathon, mentally much harder. The highlight was that I trained from afar with 3 others, My BFF Susie, her neighbor/my pal Amy, and my dear friend Annie.
The sprint, the other races were all nothing compared to getting ready for Disney! Woo-Hoo, I finally knew I could do it in the time required. I trained in Brooklyn and was a mentor. I got even more into the team. I paid my own way, so I only had to raise $500. I did that easily. Disney was all I hoped it would be and nothing like I wanted it to be all at once! What was great was the support, spending time with Jamie (who did the half on Saturday and the full on Sunday – called the Goofy challenge!!!), Chris (who watched Emily during the half then did the full on Sunday while I watched Sam and Mel), Sammy and Melly, and, of course, Emily and the team! I was spoiled. Being a back of the pack- er, I had coaches stay with me longer than usual! I had about a mile where Lisa, Jasmine, Joan and Wanda were all with me!!! I PRed! I took about 7 minutes off my time. I had my teammates at the finish cheering and taking photos, some totally awful! But who cares?! I did it!!!! The downside – I hated the course. I am a slow poke and found it unbearably crowded a lot of the time. I hated being on the roads and ramps and backstage areas of Disney. I just never felt the passion I was craving.
Fast forward to the next summer and many more races later, I was doing NYC!!! Again with TNT and was asked to be the Mentor Captain! I, again, opted to pay my own way and only had to raise $500. With some very generous donations, I made that easily. I was going to go to San Fran for a half about a month before too, but my job ended during that time and it seemed irresponsible to me. I was training to take 2 hours off my full time and get to less than 7 hours. That was tight, but from the time tests I was between 7 and 7:15. I was excited, ready and determined.
So many other changes during all of this too, Mike and I were back together, I was unemployed, so I was doing a ton of my walking during the week. I felt like every single walker and run-walker was MINE. As Mentor Captain, I also felt responsible for every single TNTer.
Back to race day, there is so much I could say, but for anyone who has ever run a bunch, there are days where things just don’t go your way. That was my race day. The first 6-8 miles were great; I was doing a walk-run. 8-10, I wasn’t feeling great. 12 – 16 my stomach was awful - I had stomach issues, pain throughout my entire body, was re-routed in a way that took a chunk of the race out (I made it up, for a whole piece I wrote on that
click here). But, even with all that, I had INCREDIBLE support. My sister, my brother and my friend all walked the last 10 miles with me. At mile 24 ish (which was really about 22 for me, Jeanette joined us). From about mile 24.5 on, I had several coaches with me – Jim, Caren, John. Kim was waiting at the finish line, along with Emily, Timothy, Michael and Mom! I also had support throughout – Robin F., Coach Barb, along with Jessica and Richard and Heather, at points, were out there cheering in several spots. I saw so many friends and teammates. I even saw Renee and other people who I had met through TQNYC. It was a day filled with love, support aches and pains.
Two of my favorite stories: before we left, we were chatting with a Canadian man who was in his 70s. He was telling us that he was injured, so he was ONLY hoping to do about a 3:45 or so. I had to laugh and told him that after he was back at his hotel and site seeing with his family to think of me approaching mile 20 or so! The second was at about mile 17 or 18. I was determined to find a bench. I wanted to do the yoga pose called pigeon using a bench. Nothing else would suffice. My sweet brother kept showing me things that could substitute. I would hear NOTHING of it. Finally, inside of the entry way to one of the apartment complexes there was a bench, I took off for it. I was so happy, and as I was stretching I heard this voice bellowing to me (being a NYer and one who was often up to no good, I was slightly defensive), and I heard, “Can I bring you anything? Some lemonade or water?” There was an older frail black man leaning out his window. I replied a little sarcastically, but also with a hint of gravity and desperation, “some new hips?” Without missing a beat, he replied, “That may take a little longer.” That stayed with me for the next several hours.
From that point on life got nutty. In January, I started to consult and hadn’t “dressed” up in ages. I was in stockings and went running downstairs to grab my phone and slipped on my, yes – I swear this is true, 2007 marathon shirt which I had carefully placed on the stairs so I would have it ready that evening to change into for training. I forgot to mention I was now training for the Miami Half at the end of January. A trip Michael, Emily and I were originally going to take together. When I slipped, I went down several stairs on my ass and likely broke my tail bone.
I had already been having a hard time post-marathon training, but I had just gotten back into Boot Camp, so I was excited. The tailbone wasn’t happy, but I did what I could and went to Miami with the thought that I would probably not do the race, but I would support the team (at this point, I knew I was becoming a training captain and was a Mentor again, so I was fine supporting and not racing). Michael and Emily couldn’t join me, but I went. I did the day before run with the team and felt good, not great, but good. Megan Matos and I sort of decided we would start out together. She is a runner, but she did run-walk this season because she was just under 6 months pregnant (with the cutest little guy, Ben).
So, I decided to start the race. At about .5 miles, I knew that was a stupid plan and was certain I wouldn’t make it more than a couple of miles. We had buddied up with Gloria. Gloria had never done more than 6-7 miles. Megan’s heart rate was going up, even though we were going slowly because of the heat. Anyway, whenever one of us wanted to stop the other 2 were driven to go on and would pull the other one along. We all wanted to quit at some point or other. Luckily when the bus stopped next to us and said gently, “In order to finish within the time limits you need to be at mile 9 right now. You are at Mile 8. You can take the bus back or continue on the sidewalks at your own risk,” we were all committed to finishing. Shortly thereafter we saw porpoises as we went over a bridge. We had support along the way including Kim and Robin F. (Notice a theme), Megan’s hubby (who had just finished his first half), Gloria’s sorority sister, etc. and at mile 12ish, Ana (who had finished and was heading back to support her mom) and mile 13ish Jackie (who had also done the half) and her mom. Right at the finish was Carmen (who had kicked ass and had a major PR) and then we were done. It was over an hour slower than my best time and over a half hour slower than my slowest time, but it is funny. I hurt, it was long, it was hard (maybe even my toughest race), but it is one of my favorites. It was 100% because of the team of the 3 of us that I finished!!!
Since then, I hadn’t done much of my own training. I did a half (the MORE again – time number 4, it poured rain and was GROSS out) did lots of 1-3 or 4 mile walks, but I just couldn’t find my own motivation. I was not feeling excited about NYC, even though I was registered. They couldn’t guarantee me that the route wouldn’t be detoured again. I was toying with Bermuda in January. It sounded great, but no one really wanted to join me in Bermuda in January. So, I was just feeling blah. Then it happened. I went to San Diego to coach my first event. I had a BLAST. My coaches made me so proud. The honored teammates made me crave their courage; the back of the packers who were struggling reminded me of how far I have come. I ran back and forth up and down the hill between miles 16 and 17 supporting the team like I was born to run. I was hungry again, but NYC still wasn’t doing it for me.
I thought about joining the Galloway group, I thought about training on my own like I did in 2007, but then it hit me – 2 things at once…I heard the team was training for Dublin, wow, a place I had always wanted to go AND a place Michael loves to visit since one of his best buds is there. I could get into this. Michael was totally on board, but I was probably going to do it on my own. I had missed the chance to get any kind of discount through TNT. I would have to raise all the funds. Then, my friend, teammate and a cancer survivor sent an email about her thoughts at mile 24: My mind couldn’t help but to take me back two years prior at this very same time when I was in a much different place. I was just starting my first chemotherapy session and frankly I was weak, 20 pounds lighter, and had no conception I’d be completing my third marathon almost exactly two years later. Then the realization struck me, the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society is the foundation as to why I was about to complete my third marathon. Only 50 years earlier Hodgkin’s was considered an untreatable illness, and now due to the research, dollars, and support provided by LLS I’m here. Strong, driven, and living every day.
At that moment, I thought about my dear friend, Beth: a mother, a teacher and another survivor who I met through TNT and that she is here, at least in part because of LLS. I thought about Danaya, a little girl whose mother, Tamyaka (Sp?) trained with us last summer and told us about going into her baby girl’s room to see her braids on her pillow – her hair had fallen out the night before. I thought about David – a lawyer, a marathoner, a tri-athlete, and an ironman – and his courage. I knew that I had gotten so much out of TNT personally that fundraising for that alone would be worth it, but fundraising for these people made it all a no-brainer. I would do Dublin and not only would I go for raising the money needed to do it with the team, I would go for doubling that (after all, when I say the Dublin marathon, people keep hearing the doubling marathon). So, I am finally motivated again. I have had a couple of nice 6 mile runs, lots of good shorter ones, too. I am experiencing some foot pain which is being treated, but I can talk more about that later. I am now on a brief hiatus from walking and running to heal my foot, but I am MOTIVATED, going for it and antsy to get back out there. This is the mojo I have been missing and craving for months.
If you made it to the end, thank you. If you only skimmed, I still thank you. 4 pages in word is WAY too long for a blog entry, but it is what it is, right?!
